Kiryat Arba-Hebron Chief Rabbi Dov Lior has reportedly decided to leave his community and move to the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Orot on the Mount of Olives, according to Kipa, a national religious website.

The rabbi, who wields enormous influence as one of the top national religious rabbis and who heads the Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva and the Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria, reportedly plans to complete the move by Chanukah.

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The rabbi reportedly bought property in Beit Orot two years ago, according to The Jerusalem Post. His assistant told the Post that having reached age 80, the rabbi ‘thought it right to step down from his post’ and decided to move to Beit Orot because ‘settling in the east of the city’ [of Jerusalem] was “close to his heart.”

Rabbi Lior is student of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and served as rabbi of Moshav Kfar HaRoeh for 10 years prior to accepting the post at Kiryat Arba.

The Bayit Yehudi party, with whom the rabbi is close, said it would move to fill the position of Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba-Hebron with someone close to the mainstream of the national religious movement.

Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.